Scott Walker on Principles & Values

I won with independents' and young people's votes

Q: You got 53% in the recall; Barack Obama in 2012 got 53%. There's a pattern here. Is there an Obama/Walker voter? And if so, who are they?

WALKER: Well, in our case, we had double digits with independent. Our state's a blue state historically. We
can't win without independents. We won with double digit votes from independent voters. And probably one of the most exciting things for me was 18 to 24 year olds was statistically essentially a tie. So we reached out to young voters, not just
traditional voters, who were voting our way.

Q: You said that you thought that the reason why you had success in Wisconsin and that President Obama had success in Wisconsin is that you were both principled in your beliefs. Do you think that centrism
doesn't work in Wisconsin?

WALKER: I think in Wisconsin, we're very much like the rest of America. Independent voters, which decide elections in swing states like ours want people to lead. They want people to have big, bold ideas, and then act on them

Book "Unintimidated" isn't my biography, but about reforms

Q: Your new book, "Unintimidated: A Governor's Story and A Nation's Challenge": a book is almost mandatory for a presidential run. You got to lay out where you are and set out some beliefs--is that why you wrote it?

WALKER: In our case, it's pretty
unique. People who want to know about my biography--how I became an eagle scout or what sports I did as a kid--they're going to be disappointed because this is really a book about the reforms that we did in Wisconsin, what we did, how we did it, most
importantly, why we did it. And then at the end, a little bit of a reaction is to how it can apply to other states and ultimately to our nation's capital. We went through some pretty big attention early in 2011. The recall election was the first ever
where a governor was successful and I think people wanted to know what, where and why. I hope actually more than just conservatives across the country read it, because I think they'll be surprised to see what they weren't seeing throughout the debate.

19 Walker associates involved in "John Doe" scandal

Walker's opponents have pushed to tie an ongoing scandal involving former Walker aides to the governor. The so-called "John Doe" investigation, which is ongoing, centers around allegations of misuse of government time and money during Walker's tenure as
the county executive of Milwaukee. It has already resulted in the arrest of three former Walker aides, two of his appointees and a major donor, while 13 others have been granted immunity to aid the investigation. Walker has amassed a large legal-defense
fund but insists he is not a target of the investigation; Democrats point to the circumstantial evidence to claim that something fishy clearly was happening on his watch.

If this issue seems like a sideshow compared to what the recall is supposed to
be about--a referendum on Walker, his agenda, and his style of governance--that's because views of Walker appear deeply entrenched among the Wisconsin electorate.